It’s all about trust
You might have caught the very un-festive news about Johnson and Johnson’s current legal situation that reared its head at the end of 2018. For those who don’t know, the brand was confronted with thousands of claims that trace amounts of asbestos in its talcum powder was responsible for various cases of cancer (and other health issues) in its customers. To make matters even worse, it’s since emerged that the company may have known about this since as far back as 1971. Naturally, Johnson and Johnson’s share price plummeted in the wake of this news – it would be a fair assumption that consumer’s trust in the brand followed suit.
Trust is something that is absolutely fundamental not only to good business, but to those valuable clients who help keep businesses afloat. It’s something we’ve thought about a lot over the years – but let’s balance that particularly negative example with something more demonstrative of trust in the positive. Roger Paterson, Director of Streamline and regular contributor to this very blog (I) had a recent experience that underlined just how crucial a role trust plays in good business. Here’s what happened.
“I have over sixty 50-watt halogen downlighters in my house. Since a few bulbs had blown, I had been wondering how I could replace them with an eco-friendlier option. A cursory glance at Google wasn’t exactly illuminating – I found a range of light fittings costing from £5 to £30 which left me feeling more confused than clear. Not long after, a guy called John was in our Edinburgh office fixing some lights. After a quick chat, he said I could replace each light for less than £4 each and I’d have 4.5-watt LED alternative. “Your electricity bill would come crashing down” he assured me. I asked when he could do it, he said tomorrow. I gave him the job and left him to get on with it.
What did John do that was so effective in gaining my business? He ‘got’ my pain, he offered me his experience and he promised me the desired result if I took his advice. He went above and beyond the expected call of duty by saying he’d come next day. With about five bulbs already blown I wanted a solution and bewildered as I was, I believed he knew the best product to fix it with. He had secured my trust.
It was a great reminder for us here at Streamline that we offer the same. Our huge collective knowledge and experience, beautiful product examples and testimonials are the tools for us to build genuine trust with our clients. With them we can get across how we understand and care about their problem and respond to that problem quickly and effectively.”
So, if you’re looking for a supplier that lives by its principles and actively wants to establish trust (well, why wouldn’t you?!) we could be the perfect fit.